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Its coming up to Christmas so i hope everyone is looking forward to it; I know times are tough for a lot of people but Christmas brings out a lot of good in everyone so i do wish all members here past and present a Merry Christmas, what are your plans? What gifts are you buying or hope to get, share all!

Personally im just going to stock up on food and drink, catch up with family, read the new King book and basically just relax and do nothing, at least the snow has eased off for now!

And you?

A tad early Mike but Happy Xmas to you too.

I plan on getting a bottle of the new Baileys Biscotti Flavour drink & sampling it over Xmas ... we'll have the regular Baileys on hand just in case it doesn't live up to the adverts!

And as always I expect my usual supply of book vouchers (I'm so easy to buy for!) & then I plan as a special treat to myself to purchase Painted with Words by Lara Marlowe (Foreign Correspondent with the Irish Times) .... I love her writing style and the book is her writing 'with insight and grace on artists such as Picasso, Gauguin, Matisse and Cézanne, and on writers including Sartre and de Beauvoir, Lévi-Strauss and Camus'.
I gather there are loads of fabulous reproductions of key works of art.
I listened to an interview with her about the book a week or two ago & it sounds like a treat of a book.

I will be visiting Waterstone's next weekend and no doubt adding to my TBR pile .... hope they have a 3 for 2 on

A Happy Reading Christmas to all the regulars and the not so regular contributors ... so many of you feel like old friends and I so enjoy our conversations.

For christmas i'll be working a night shift student security job on campus. I'll put some wintery movies on my laptop and enjoy.

I'm buying my brother a basketball jersey, a perfume for his wife and mickey mouse clubhouse for my nephew.
I haven't yet decided what to buy for my girlfriend. I was thinking - watch, but she says she doesn't like wearing them - maybe because she suspects i'll buy one and doesn't want me to spend too much...
But her present is not a christmas one, she has her birthday in two weeks any suggestions?


Otherwise, my xmas comes in january, so i'll have to wait to get something for xmas

It is going to be a very busy time for me but a happy one. My children will all be home this christmas....which is not always the case, so it will be great, as for gifts I will have to get back to you on that, haven't got anything yet.

Ill probably go to my brother-in-laws for dinner hes planning on having a big feed with all his wives and kids and half the town. My family is scattered all over the country, we dont get together much. Christmas isnt that big a deal with me anymore but its still a nice time of year.

Happy Xmas to you too,I will probably just spend it with my family,and relax.

It's nice that we are all saying happy Christmas, not just happy holidays. I always weave a little bit of Christianity into my festive season. And I still do Christmas cards. We Aussies have a big break coming up, a six-week exodus consisting of the long school holidays, mainly spent at the beach, Christmas, New Year's Day, Australia Day with evening storms and endless heat until late February.

Of course, most of Australia has swelteringly high temperatures on Christmas Day so our food (steak, sausages, onion) is usually cooked on a barbecue grill beside a pool with accompaniments like sliced cold meats, green salad, beetroot, baked potatoes, bread rolls and lashings of tomato sauce. My favourite desserts are fresh tropical fruit salad with ice-cream or plum pudding with custard. This lunchtime meal (strangely named Christmas Dinner) is always supplemented by whatever else the family and guests bring for the outdoor table. Beverages of choice range from icy beer to cool wine to chilled eggnog. It's kept in a groaning fridge, an Esky (ice-filled portable box) or with pre-ordered ice in the laundry stainless steel sink. Hey, it's practical when it melts.

Our homes are often opened up for the breeze so Christmas decorations have to be sturdy (the Tree can be inside or outside) and the ceiling fans in working order, the essential flyscreens undamaged. In a nutshell, I guess we relax and take it easy and it's only the cricket fans who get a bit physical, shouting at the TV, watching white-clad men on a green oval whack at a red ball. Ah, summertime.

My seasonal best wishes to you all - may you have a happy, safe and enjoyable Yuletide wherever you may be!

@Maud
That was such an evocative depiction of an Aussie Christmas I feel I'm there with you ..... then I look out the window & it's lashing down hail & it's cold. Lucky you in Queensland.

We'll be doing the full conventional Christmas at my mother's house .... big gathering, turkey & ham, pudding, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce etc etc We'll drink too much, eat too much, argue over the washup, have a mad dash for the armchairs in front of the telly, give out about the 'rubbish they put on for Xmas' and end up playing silly games like Charades or maybe this year I'll introduce the gang to word association or Bighuey's 4-letter word game!

We give presents but just small silly stuff except for my only niece & nephew who clean up in the present department but they are rapidly getting to the stage where they only want the MONEY! Kinda sad when you no longer see the sitting room looking like Beirut with wrapping and ribbon all over the place .... ah well such is life

Weather permitting some of us we'll wrap up & go for a bit of a walk & come back hungry & ready for more.
I love Christmas day evening when we do the cold turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce & stuffing & make the Bailey's coffees. That's when we remember my Dad, grandparents & all those family & friends who will be missing from family tables this Christmas and it's sad but remembering good times and funny stories from years past is cathartic & it usually ends up in a good laughing session as our varying memories conflict.

Cheers ... 'agus go mbeirimíd beo ar an am seo arís' (and may we all be alive this time next year)

I have Xmas pretty much wrapped up thank God, i already know what im getting for my nearest and dearest and how much to spend, plus an overage budget in case of any unexpected events (cough cough snow), and also how much drink and food to get. Im very much a fan of minimalistic style and Aldi has really helped- Xmas cards and wrapping paper for pittance! All is left now is to just sit back, eat, drink and feel the weight piling on ha

StephenKingman wrote:I have Xmas pretty much wrapped up thank God, i already know what im getting for my nearest and dearest and how much to spend, plus an overage budget in case of any unexpected events (cough cough snow), and also how much drink and food to get. Im very much a fan of minimalistic style and Aldi has really helped- Xmas cards and wrapping paper for pittance! All is left now is to just sit back, eat, drink and feel the weight piling on ha

Mike, have you seen the Aldi adverts .... so cheap you just have to laugh

^ Ya, Xmas dinner for under 30euro?? I may just push the boat out when it comes to quality sprouts and ham, sorry Aldi

So, what are you hoping to get in your christmas stocking ?
(apart from the obvious lottery wins etc.. )

^ Ill be happy with the latest King book and Family Guy series 11, as well as copious amounts of pear cider!!

StephenKingman wrote:^ Ill be happy with the latest King book and Family Guy series 11, as well as copious amounts of pear cider!!

That sounds right up my street too

Ant wrote:

StephenKingman wrote:^ Ill be happy with the latest King book and Family Guy series 11, as well as copious amounts of pear cider!!

That sounds right up my street too

Another Family Guy fan? I love it, really does get better each year,so hopefully a few episodes of it around the fire will really make Christmas